Come on Dads, Get Involved Already!

I put on an event at a youth group yesterday and had a great turn out of both kids and moms.  But, as usual, there were no dads to be found… I was the only one in the room!  This post is to urge all the dads out there to get off your keesters and start investing in your children’s lives!  There’s always more work to be done.  There’s always more sales to be made.  There’s always more oil that needs changing and yard that needs mowing and stupid TV shows to be watched.  Put everything else aside and invest in your kids and in the things that are important to them.

My program yesterday was about prayer.  I had about an hour with the kids, and the time flew by.  I started by talking briefly about prayer; the what, why and how.  My main goal with the night was to convey the importance of prayer and how our lives are drastically different when we pray.  I mentioned that our prayer life is like a marriage.  In a good marriage, the spouses communicate well.  They know each other, inside and out.  They anticipate the other’s thoughts, they anticipate their needs.  I paralleled the marriage to prayer, showing that in order to have a good relationship with God, we must communicate well with Him.  This means often and for significant periods of time.  I also suggested that they all listen twice as much as they speak, after all, we have two ears and only one mouth!

Next, I showed a video by mega-church pastor Rob Bell, one of his Nooma videos called “Kickball”.  The video is a story about Rob and his son.  The son wants this stupid mall-kiosk toy and dad doesn’t want him to have it because of many legitimate reasons.  [However, all parents should recognize that you can’t reason with a three year old.]  Eventually, the dad provides for his son an even better toy, an orange kickball.  The child had no idea that there was such an incredible toy and will probably never ever ever think about the kiosk toy again.  The father provided what the child didn’t even know he wanted.  How great are the blessings God the Father has for you?  Wouldn’t you want to give incredible gifts to your children?  Before they ever even know that blessing exists?

Get involved in your kid’s lives.  It will radically change their lives for the better.

TrueMan up!